OTR Interviews

Inside the Vetting of the Clintons

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," November 17, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Senator Hillary Clinton is not the only member of her family being vetted by President-elect Obama. Well, sort of. President Bill Clinton is also now under the microscope. Why?

Joining us live is Philip Rucker, political reporter for The Washington Post. Philip, why, if he's not even -- he's not looking for a job, right?

PHILIP RUCKER, WASHINGTON POST: No, that's right. That's right.

VAN SUSTEREN: OK. But they're looking at his finances.

RUCKER: They are, and that's because he -- since leaving the White House, he's started the Clinton Foundation and he does the Clinton Global Initiative, which does a great deal of charity work all around the world with issues like AIDS and climate change and hunger, but he's been raising hundreds of millions of dollars for his foundation, and those finances have been private so far. He's been reluctant to disclose the donors, and this is not -- he's not required by law to do this, but it's something that the Obama team is certainly looking at as they consider Hillary for secretary of state.

VAN SUSTEREN: Is there any -- there's no suggestion that any of the money he raised went to line his own pocket, right? I mean, it all -- the money he raised went to charity.

ALLEN: That's right. And that's not to say that through this work, he hasn't become wealthy himself. He's made a great deal of money delivering speeches all around the world, but this is really raising money for charity through the foundation and through the Clinton global initiative.

VAN SUSTEREN: Now, there's -- there's eyes on some of the different donors. For instance, there's one Canadian who's -- I know that The Post has written about who got some mines -- got some, what, mining rights, mineral rights over in...

RUCKER: Yes...

VAN SUSTEREN: ... Over in Central Asia, Eastern Europe?

RUCKER: And it's a little bit unclear what happened there, but there are some reports that he's helped -- that Bill Clinton helped facilitate a deal there in uranium in Kazakhstan, and in turn, there was a donation to the foundation. This has been reported elsewhere. So these are the sorts of things that the Obama team is really going to be looking at hard.

VAN SUSTEREN: Why do they care? I mean, let's say hypothetically that all the money raised went straight to charity.

RUCKER: You know, they care because he's out there traveling the world and he's, you know, using his connections with foreign leaders to do a lot of charitable work, and this is the similar types of travels and types of connections that Hillary Clinton would be making as secretary of state. So I think they care sort of going forward, you know, looking at how they'll evolve in this partnership. This is really unprecedented to have a secretary of state whose spouse is sort of doing his own kind of foreign policy as a philanthropist, and so this is something they're going to have to navigate.

VAN SUSTEREN: Is there -- as far as you know, is there any resistance from President Clinton from turning over the documents? He's not the one looking for the job or getting the job, but is he showing any resistance?

RUCKER: We're not sure. I mean, he's shown resistance certainly in the past, in terms of making those documents public through news reporters. All indications are that they're cooperating with the Obama team, but the Obama team hasn't said so yet. So we'll just have to wait and see how that works out.

VAN SUSTEREN: And is Senator Clinton objecting at all, saying, Look, you know, I'm not -- he's not the one getting the job, I am?

VAN SUSTEREN: Who's the one -- do you know who's doing the vetting, how high up it is? Is President-elect Obama doing a lot of hands-on of this vetting?

RUCKER: It's very high up. The Obama team has over 100 lawyers from all over the country, some of the best legal minds, doing this vetting. They have a 63-question questionnaire, where they're asking all sorts of personal and financial and professional background-type questions. And so you can rest assured that with Hillary Clinton, it's at the highest level.

VAN SUSTEREN: You know, it's sort of interesting that the president - - a president -- had she become president, this wouldn't have been vetted this way. This information wouldn't have been in the public domain or vetted if she were president, but as secretary of state, when you're going for a job, you get vetted like that.

RUCKER: You do, and it's, you know, up to the president-elect how he wants to vet his candidates for these jobs, and this is the -- this is what they've decided to do, so...

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, I suppose in this one -- I mean, it really could have an impact on negotiations and this -- and how -- you know, how foreign leaders might look at our secretary of state if they thought there was some quid pro quo to be had or something.

RUCKER: It does. And you know, the other impact is that Bill Clinton is a former president. And a Yale professor that we interviewed for a story in The Washington Post today says that there's always been sort of a cardinal rule in foreign policy that you don't have your secretaries of state dealing with former presidents. Like, in the Bush administration, there was not much dealing with President Carter. So this is a whole new relationship. We've have never had a secretary of state who was the spouse of the former president, so it's really new territory for President-elect Obama.

VAN SUSTEREN: Any indication whether she really wants the job?

RUCKER: I don't think they'd be doing this if she didn't want the job.

VAN SUSTEREN: And any indication whether or not he wants her to have the job? I mean, we hear (INAUDIBLE) we hear all sort of the niceties. I mean, we just heard a little while ago about how Senator McCain met with President-elect Obama and how everything was so nice and chummy and present (ph) and everything, but you know, it certainly wasn't before. I mean, no inside scoop on whether they really -- whether he -- she wants it?

RUCKER: Not yet, but we'll have to stay tuned.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, Philip, thank you.

RUCKER: Thank you.

VAN SUSTEREN: We will indeed stay tuned. Thank you.

RUCKER: Thanks.

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